Poems
A child’s a plaything for an hour;Its pretty tricks we tryFor that or for a longer space--Then tire, and lay it by.
But I knew one that to itselfAll seasons could control;That would have mock’d the sense of painOut of a grievèd soul.
Thou straggler into loving arms,Young climber-up of knees,When I forget thy thousand waysThen life and all shall cease.
Words in this poem
- plaything n.
- A thing to play with; a toy; anything that serves to amuse.
- straggler n.
- One who straggles, or departs from the direct or proper course, or from the company to which he belongs; one who falls behind the rest; one who rambles without any settled direction.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poems is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary Lamb, Poems, (1765–1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-mary-lamb/a-child.html, id L16172.
Form and metre
A Child is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A hour · tryA · space · byA
- 2 -A-A itself · controlA · pain · soulA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A child’s a plaything for an hour; | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| Its pretty tricks we try | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For that or for a longer space-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Then tire, and lay it by. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But I knew one that to itself | 8 | ······˘/ |
| All seasons could control; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| That would have mock’d the sense of pain | 8 | ········ |
| Out of a grievèd soul. | 5 | ····· |
| Thou straggler into loving arms, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Young climber-up of knees, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When I forget thy thousand ways | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Then life and all shall cease. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.